The manager of a trader who deals in cigarettes and is based at Banarhat of Jalpaiguri district has alleged that one person had held him at gunpoint and looted around ₹3.5 lakh from him on Tuesday evening.

Senior police officers, however, said they had yet to find proof of the robbery.

Samir Sarkar, the manager, filed a complaint at Banarhat police station on Tuesday, alleging that a person had walked into the distributor’s office and taken out a firearm asking him to hand over whatever cash that was with him.

Sarkar claimed that he had handed over ₹3.5 lakh to the robber.

However, as the police initiated a probe and scanned CCTV footage, they found a person wearing a helmet walking into the office.

“The footage shows that he was not carrying any firearm. Without applying
any force, the person took out the cash from a drawer and left the office. It is quite unusual in the case of a robbery or loot. We are checking out whether it was a loot or a planned set-up,” said a police officer.

Khandbahale Umesh Ganpath, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri, said the investigators were yet to find evidence that substantiates Sarkar’s claim.

“The investigating officer hasn’t found anything which proves that the person was held at gunpoint and that the cash was looted. Also, there is confusion over the amount of money that he has spoken about. We are gathering more information about the incident,” he said.